NCJ Number
217630
Journal
Criminal Behavior and Mental Health Volume: 17 Issue: 1 Dated: 2007 Pages: 15-30
Date Published
2007
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This comparative study examined adolescent male sex offenders and non-sex offenders in respect of psychiatric disorders and a number of sociodemographic and individual characteristics.
Abstract
Results of the study indicate that all sex offender subgroups could be distinguished from non-sex offenders. Sex offenders were younger at the time of the referral and were more often of Dutch birth and ancestry. Alcohol or drug abuse was less common in this group and sex offenders were less likely than non-sex offenders to have a previous criminal record. With regard to psychiatric disorders, conduct disorder was more common in non-sex offenders. Paraphilia was, of course, typical of sex offenders. The identification of relationships between psychiatric disorders and types of adolescent offending may improve the understanding of the contributions of such disorders to offense, including sexual offending behavior. Several studies have given attention to the relationship between psychiatric disorders and adolescent offending but few have distinguished different types of offenders, especially within the category of adolescent sex offender. The objective for this study was to test relationships between psychiatric disorder and specific offense category among young male offenders. Data were gathered from Dutch Forensic Psychiatric Service files for 5 groups of offenders: 308 violent sex offenders, 134 nonviolent sex offenders, 270 child sex offenders, 3,148 violent offenders, and 1,620 offenders charged with any crime other than interpersonal body contact crimes. These groups were compared on individual characteristics and psychiatric diagnoses according to DSM-IV criteria. Tables, figure, notes and references